Prof. Matthias Bäcker

Matthias Bäcker has been Professor of Oboe at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar since 2005. Born in Schwerin in 1971, he studied with Prof Hans Werner Wätzig and Prof Burkhard Glaetzner in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1994, Matthias Bäcker was accepted into the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was taught by Hansjörg Schellenberger. At the same time, he was principal oboist in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and a founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. 

His first permanent engagements took him to the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the National Theatre in Mannheim as principal oboist. In 1999, he moved to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he was principal oboist under Christian Thielemann until his appointment to the Weimar Music University.

Matthias Bäcker has been and continues to be invited as a guest by numerous major orchestras in Germany and abroad. He has played with the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the State Operas in Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg and has held a guest contract with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

He has worked with Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons and Kirill Petrenko, among others.

Matthias Bäcker was awarded 2nd prize at the Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition in 1993 and 3rd prize at the Sony Music Foundation's 4th International Oboe Competition Tokyo in 1994. 

He performs worldwide as a chamber musician and soloist. As principal oboist, Matthias Bäcker is also a member of the Camerata Salzburg.